1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to patterns for women's clothes, and more particularly, single universal patterns for forming a number of custom-fitted women's garments and components therefor, and the method of using the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Patterns for use in forming women's garments are well-known in the art. Heretofore, however, such patterns were tailored to a particular size of garment normally worn by the woman, without taking into account that no two women are built exactly the same with the exact same hip, waist or bust measurements. Accordingly, the pattern would be purchased and a garment sewn based on a particular dimension, such as waist size, hip size or bust size, but no provision was made to alter the pattern and the resultant garment to the exact figure dimensions in all three categories so that the resultant garment was custom-fitted to the exact individual dimensions of the wearer. The woman, therefore, is squeezed into a particular size garment, based on one figure measurement, rather than all of her dimensions, which vary from individual to individual.
About the only attempt made to develop a "universal" pattern for women's garments was to superimpose different or graduated sizes of one size determining component, e.g., waist sizes, represented by parallel lines on a paper pattern, so that if a women had a particular size waist she could cut the pattern from the paper that was tailored to that size. Examples of this type pattern are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 811,700; 2,531,781; and 2,568,805. Individual sections of a garment could be customized by cutting different patterns representing different sections of the garment, tailoring them to one particular dimension, and then cutting the cloth to conform to these size patterns and sewing the cloth together, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,867. Yet, no attempt was made to provide a single pattern representative of the entire garment which could be customized to all of the individual dimensions of a woman. If separate patterns are needed to form individual sections of a garment so as to be customized to one dimension, then the entire utility of providing a universal pattern to custom fit all dimensions is defeated.
In order to overcome this deficiency in the prior art patterns for forming women's garments, various expensive and time consuming techniques have been developed to modify the basic garment formed from the standard size type pattern. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,609,766, a trial garment, such as a dress, is made from a standard pattern. The trial dress is fitted on a particular figure and modified in accordance with the exact dimensions of that figure by the proper placement of seams, sizing of darts, etc. The modified dress elements are then separated from the trial dress and overlayed with clear flexible plastic material and the modified placement of the seams, darts, etc. drawn on the overlay and transferred to the standard pattern to customize the standard pattern to the particular individual. The customized pattern is then used to form a finished garment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,955 goes one step further in attempting to adjust a standard size pattern to an individual figure. A plastic pattern form is provided with reference markings so the pattern form can be accurately placed on the person. Measurements of the hips, waist and bust are made and these measurements are transformed to two dimensional lines on the plastic pattern which is then used to alter the standard basic paper pattern to custom fit the garment to the individual measurements of the wearer.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an inexpensive solution to the custom-fitting of women's garments by furnishing a single, universal pattern for a complete women's garment which can be altered simply by taking the individual measurements of the woman in different key categories so the garment can be laid out and custom fitted prior to being sewn, without the aid of auxiliary overlays and the adjustments of standard size, single patterns.